cwcFlyer....

First of all, welcome to Flyertalk. Great to have you here.

The purpose of these boards is essentially for travelers to share experiences with each other. Indeed tips for finding the lowest possible room rates, airfares, special offers, etc. are all part of that.

When booking rooms on the Marriott site, I frequently plug in various rate codes...so long as I know I qualify. You're also right about the compilation of codes being posted elsewhere in this forum. To be sure, there are a lot of corporate codes listed there, as well as codes tied to various groups, promotions, special occasions, etc.

So while the user may freely access these codes, the question becomes "when is it ethical to use them".

I can only answer for myself and others may disagree. But to my view, I'm entitled to use the code if I'm a member of a group or organization for which the code is intened OR if my hotel stay is for the specific purpose of doing business with the company or organization whose code I'm using. In this latter case, to my view, the company I'm in town to see is bringing both employees and vendors into the hotel as paying guests.